CES 2014: Audi Presses Innovation And Future Of Piloted Driving

German engineering meets Silicon Valley was the theme of Monday’s keynote presentation, hosted by TV actor Kunal Nayyar, star of the hit CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The actor performed emcee duties as several industry leaders took the stage.

“The word automobile actually means self moving,” Nayyar explained, before introducing Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association and Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi AG. The pair drove onto the stage in a chauffeured Horch, suggesting that the concept of a “piloted” vehicle once meant a hired driver. That definition is poised for change as cars are increasingly designed with autonomous features.

“When you think of CES cars are not the very consumer product that comes to mind,” said Shapiro. “But the truth is that cars have become mobile technology platforms. Auto makers are rapidly adding innovation that allows cars to be personalized and drivers to be connected. When you think of German engineering you automatically think of cars.”

Audi has been at the forefront of automobile innovation for more than 100 years Shapiro added, while the auto maker has taken a lead with infotainment, driver assistance and notably piloted drivers. It is in that development of autonomous cars that Audi is now rapidly charging ahead. One step toward that future is the integration of Google’s Android OS.

Audi is now working on technologies that allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel and let the vehicle do its job.

“Today we are redefining what piloted driving means for a new era,” said Audi’s Stadler. “As I see the history of the automobile falls into four eras.”

In the first era, he said, man created the machine but saw its limits. The second era was in essence about “taming” that machine and making it reliable and making it work for people. It turned from a novelty to an everyday tool. This was followed by improvements in safety and efficiency, and most cars today are not all that different from the Horch that was used to drive Stadler onto the stage, he added.

“Today we see a period of major changes,” he suggested, “And the fourth era is the one in which we move from refining the automobile to redefining mobility.”

This is how Audi is now helping close the gap from consumer electronics and the automobile, but also in driving closer to how connected drivers are to the car and how connected they are in their lives. It is finally, Stadler noted, about closing the gap from science fiction to reality of our world.

This pilotless driving effort has seen Audi partner with industry leaders in electronics along with the creative power of Silicon Valley. To highlight these partnerships, Stadler was joined on stage by Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, and Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder, president and CEO of nVIDIA.

“Audi has always been on the cutting edge of technology,” said de la Vega, “They worked on the connected car long before most.”

De la Vega announced that AT&T will power the Audi A3 family with AT&T 4G LTE. “We’re not just a network to our connected car partners,” he added, “AT&T Drive is a solution that we can take to automakers like Audi so they can be innovative but still differentiate. We’ve got all the tools that an auto maker needs to create an awesome connected car experience. Most important, we’re flexible.”

“There is no one size fits all,” de la Vega added. “Drivers are different and Audi is an innovator that looks to be different than the other guy.”

NVIDIA is known for its graphics card, but it too sees opportunities in working with the auto maker.

“If we’re in the middle of a mobile computing revolution than the car is the most advanced mobile computer,” said Nvidia’s Huang.

However, Stadler also admitted that innovation in automobiles and electronics moves at very different speeds.

“The engineers started to think about your car in seven years,” said Stadler. “This is not a lifetime for automobile development but it is several lifetimes for electronics.”

This is thus both a big challenge and a big opportunity; this is why Audi remains committed to building a global ecosystem of partners that include not only nVIDIA and AT&T but also chip maker Qualcomm.

“Through this partnership in 2013 Audi became the first car maker to bring integrated 4G LTE to market,” he added.

To demonstrate the progress, Audi unveiled a concept car that combined a traditional V8 engine with a 110 kilowatt electric car, which could travel more than 90 miles on a single gallon of gasoline.

“In one body you have a muscle car and a plug in hybrid,” Stadler suggested. “This is about German engineering meets Silicon Valley.”